Have sex in the morning – but always cook at night: Experts reveal the perfect time of day for everything | life and style

life and style

Choosing the best time to do things can make a real difference. Here’s how to make the most of your 24 hours

Fri Aug 11, 2023 6:00 AM EDT

MORNING

have sex

Marianne Johnsonrelationship and psychosexual therapist
If you have young children or live with your parents, there will be practical issues that will probably prevent you from having sex in the morning. But otherwise, there are various benefits to sex that suggest morning is the perfect time. For example, studies show that your stress response improves with recent sex. Your energy levels are higher and you will increase your oxytocin levels, increasing feelings of bonding, confidence and relaxation, making it a great way to start the day. You could just seize the moment or, if that doesn’t work, schedule it for a time when you know you’ll be alone – you’d plan a nice meal, why not sex?

Write a novel

Linda Grant, writer
Most writers I know, but not all, would agree that the morning is the best time to write a novel, when you’ve just woken up and are close to the dream state before the The day’s boring rationality does not come into play with its mundane concerns. I get up around 7:30 a.m. and work from around 8:30 a.m. for two to three hours. The unconscious and the imagination must be the master.

Having a difficult conversation

Philippa Perry, psychotherapist and author
We always have our important conversations on Sunday mornings over breakfast. We’re cool, we have great things to look forward to during the day, and we don’t think conversations are “difficult” as much as “interesting.” It is important not to phrase things negatively.

Keep a diary

Kara Cutruzzula, author of Do It for Yourself
To reap the benefits of journaling, you need to sit down at 6:32 a.m. with a cup of oolong tea heated to exactly 84.9°C and write down 2,200 exquisite words using your favorite pen. I’m kidding. But keeping a journal immediately after waking up works wonders. Take 10 minutes to set an intention: what do you want to happen today? Jot down your doubts or anxieties and dedicate the space to a meaningful project. Plus, journaling early helps you avoid a “scary umbrella” — that overhanging feeling you should do something later in the day (but do it rarely).

See a therapist

Anouchka Grose, psychoanalyst
The best time of day to talk to a therapist is 9:00 a.m. Both of you will probably feel relatively fresh and you should still be able to remember your dreams. The therapist will not yet be desensitized or scrubbed by the traumas of others, so you can get a fair hearing for yourself. Any sooner than that and you risk them resenting you.

Clean the house

Aggie MacKenzieStreamer
If you like cleaning, do it at any time of the day; but if it’s something you don’t like, do it as soon as possible and get over it. Another trick is to set a time in your mind by which you need to be done: for example, clean the bathroom in the next 15 minutes. Do it quickly so as not to interfere too much with your day.

AFTERNOON

Go to an appointment

Vicki Pavitrelationship coach
Keep it light and airy with a late morning coffee, lunch, or early afternoon nature walk. The beauty of day dates is their flexibility – they tend to be shorter so you can be flexible with how things develop. If the conversation doesn’t flow, you can always leave it there, but if it does, there’s room for the date to continue if you both want. Otherwise, leave on a good note and book the next date.

Nap

Camille Stoddartsleep coach
It’s best to take a nap when your energy levels are at their lowest, during the afternoon slump – and for most people, this happens around 3 p.m. Often mistakenly attributed to what we eat at lunchtime, this daily drop in energy and increased sleepiness is actually part of the circadian rhythm that governs our 24-hour sleep/wake cycle. Taking a 20-minute nap at this point is far enough away from bedtime that it won’t disrupt your sleep and can help improve cognitive function and general alertness for the rest of the day.

To do one’s homework

Lola Okolosie, teacher
The best time to do homework should be the perfect time between getting home, half an hour of relaxation and a snack, and dinner time. You’ve had a brief break from school, but you’re still fresh out of class, so you’re able to get back into the homework mindset. Later and it drags on into the evening, becoming a dreaded task that you put off. Since a lot of homework is now done online, it’s best to move devices away as the evening progresses so blue light from screens doesn’t disturb sleep.

EVENING

wash your face

Sali Hughes, beauty columnist for the Guardian
It’s important to cleanse your face twice a day, but the most important of these – removing sunscreen, makeup and external dirt before bedtime – feels like a much bigger chore because it happens at a time when you are likely to be hungry and reluctant to do anything rejuvenating like washing. That’s why I always recommend cleaning up as soon as you get home from work. There’s something nice about leaving the outside world as soon as you get back to the nest (I also like washing my feet – a common practice in many Asian cultures – and putting on my pajamas), and that extra motivation you’ll miss probably later allows for a more consistent and careful skincare routine.

Aquatic plants

Alice Vincent, Guardian gardening columnist
I prefer to water in the evening because if you do it in the morning, chances are it will rain later, leaving you a bit like a mug. You don’t want to do this in the middle of the day when it’s hot because it evaporates before it reaches the roots. As environmentally conscious gardeners, we need to be careful how we water and we should plant things that are drought resistant or catch water from the soil. When planting plants in the ground, water very well to encourage deeper root growth, which will help them survive dry spells. Whenever you water, be sure to do it long and less often, rather than little and often.

See the art

Jonathan Jones, Guardian art critic
The evening is my favorite time to visit a gallery or a museum. It’s a bit naughty and adult looking at art after hours. It’s as if the paintings themselves behaved differently, slipping into something more comfortable. In summer, in a place like the National Gallery or the V&A that has natural light, the subtle changes in shade and color add even more mystery. Going to the gallery shouldn’t be a must, and in the evening it’s a real pleasure.

NIGHT

Bake a cake

Kim-Joy, baker
It depends on the type of person. But for me, cooking is better at night because there are fewer stimuli. There are fewer interruptions, it’s darker, and everything feels calmer and quieter. Having a relaxed environment makes me much more creative because my brain thinks more clearly.

Read a book

Damian Barr, author and founder of Literary Salon
The day is all about writing, avoiding emails, and pretending not to be on Twitter. Novels and stories come to life in the twilight of the evening. I like to read late at night by lamplight, but not in bed, otherwise there is the temptation to sleep, even if the book is good. I find it difficult to read if there is noise so prefer the small hours. The calmer the world, the more I enjoy what I read.

Listen to music

Alexis Petridis, Guardian rock and pop critic
Something in the night potentiates the music. There are all sorts of theories as to why music sounds better at this time of day: everything from less ambient noise and sensory distraction to an increase in melatonin (which, apparently, improves our perception of sound). For anyone who grew up secretly listening to the radio or with headphones under the covers, there may also be a historical resonance, a powerful sense of isolation and focus: a direct communication between the music and you.

IT DEPENDS …

Watch a movie

Peter Bradshaw, Guardian film critic
There are three distinct “best times” to go to the movies. For groups of three or more, it’s after 9 p.m. For me, this is the most chatty time – you all have a meal together as close to the cinema as possible, preferably next door (I hate worrying about the weather), then head out for a lively after-dinner evening at the cinema . For two people on a date — especially a first date — it’s 6 p.m., and then you go eat after and you have something to talk about. But if you’re going alone, it should be during the day, preferably just after lunch, or maybe even in the morning, savoring how few people are there, then shuddering out into the light of the day.

Eat a big meal

Tim Spector, author and co-founder of nutritional app Zwhere
We’ve heard the saying: breakfast like a king; lunch like a prince; dine like a pauper. But like many food myths, it’s not true. According to Zoe’s data, we actually see no difference between eating in the morning or evening in terms of blood sugar spikes and fat metabolism. More and more, we believe that delaying or skipping breakfast could be good for the metabolism. I encourage people to eat a big meal when they feel happiest doing so, and if they don’t wake up hungry, try delaying breakfast to give their gut microbes time to rest.

Exercise

Omar Mansourpersonal trainer
A morning workout can be more productive and improve your mood throughout the day because exercise releases endorphins, those feel-good hormones. I do low-intensity cardio around 10 a.m. to wake up my body and my central nervous system. That said, energy and performance tend to improve later, as most people have higher testosterone levels as the day progresses. Therefore, you may want to do a weight training session in the evening around 6 p.m. when your hormones are at their peak, as this can improve workout results.